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Erik Jones
|birth_place = Byron, Michigan |achievements = First driver ever to win Rookie of the Year in all three NASCAR national series 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion 2011 CRA All-Star Tour Champion 2012, 2013 Snowball Derby Winner 2013, 2014, 2015 Winchester 400 Winner |awards = 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year |Total_Cup_Races = 73 |Years_In_Cup = 3 |Cup_Car_Team = No. 20 (Joe Gibbs Racing) |Prev_Cup_Pos = 19th |Previous_Year = 2017 |Best_Cup_Pos = 19th (2017) |First_Cup_Race = 2015 SpongeBob SquarePants 400 (Kansas) |Last_Cup_Race = |First_Cup_Win = 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Daytona) |Last_Cup_Win = |Cup_Wins = 1 |Cup_Top_Tens = 32 |Cup_Poles = 2 |Total_Busch_Races = 77 |Years_In_Busch = 4 |Busch_Car_Team = |Prev_Busch_Pos = 87th |Prev_Busch_Year = 2017 |Best_Busch_Pos = 4th (2016) |First_Busch_Race = 2014 EnjoyIllinois.com 300 (Joliet) |Last_Busch_Race = 2017 Ticket Galaxy 200 (Phoenix) |First_Busch_Win = 2015 O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 (Texas) |Last_Busch_Win = 2017 O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 (Texas) |Busch_Wins = 9 |Busch_Top_Tens = 50 |Busch_Poles = 15 |Total_Truck_Races = 42 |Years_In_Truck = 5 |Truck_Car_Team = No. 18 (Kyle Busch Motorsports) |Prev_Truck_Pos = 85th |Prev_Truck_Year = 2016 |Best_Truck_Pos = 1st (2015) |First_Truck_Race = 2013 Kroger 250 (Martinsville) |Last_Truck_Race = 2018 Gander Outdoors 150 (Pocono) |First_Truck_Win = 2013 Lucas Oil 150 (Phoenix) |Last_Truck_Win = 2015 WinStar World Casino & Resort 350 (Texas) |Truck_Wins = 7 |Truck_Top_Tens = 35 |Truck_Poles = 7 |updated = November 5, 2018 }} Erik Jones (born May 30, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. The 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, he currently competes full-time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 18 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports, part-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, driving the No. 20 Camry for DGR-Crosley, and part-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, driving the No. 20 Camry for DGR-Crosley. His nicknames are EJ, his initials, and That Jones Boy, given to him by announcer Ken Squier. Racing career Early career and short track racing Late Model that he won with at the La Crosse]] Jones began his racing career at the age of seven, in quarter-midget racing; he began racing stock cars at age 13,Brudenell, Mike. "Erik Jones is spending his teen years in the fast lane, victory lane", September 3, 2010. Detroit, MI: Detroit Free Press, page B4; accessed April 6, 2013. and began competing in the ASA Late Model Series in 2010, becoming the youngest-ever winner of the Oktoberfest race at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway."About Erik, erikjonesracing.com; accessed April 6, 2013. Moving to the Champion Racing Association's CRA All-Star Tour in 2011, he won the series championship in his rookie year; Jones also was the winner of that year's Governor's Cup 200 late model race at New Smyrna Speedway, leading every lap of the event; he was the first driver not born in the state of Florida to achieve that feat in over thirty years.Olsen, Cory. "ARCA is next step in 15-year-old Erik Jones' racing career", MLive.com, March 9, 2012; accessed April 6, 2013. Jones moved to the ARCA Racing Series for the 2012 season, becoming the first-ever driver to compete in the series at the age of 15; competing in 10 of the series' 19 races (he was not eligible at tracks longer than one mile), he posted a best finish of third at Winchester Speedway and Berlin Raceway.Erik Jones - 2012 ARCA Racing Series Results. Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Accessed April 6, 2013. In December of that year, Jones held off NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch to win the prestigious Snowball Derby.Inabinett, Mark. "Teen Erik Jones battles by NASCAR star Kyle Busch to win Snowball Derby", al.com, December 2, 2012; accessed April 6, 2013. In December 2013, Jones was named the winner of the 2013 Snowball Derby after the original winner, Chase Elliott, was disqualified after post-race inspections revealed a piece of tungsten in his car. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ]] In March 2013, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that it had signed Jones to drive in five age-eligible Camping World Truck Series races in the team's No. 51 Toyota Tundra,""Erik Jones catches the eye of Kyle Busch at Snowball Derby and lands 5-race deal in Trucks", startribune.com, March 16, 2013; accessed 2013-04-06. driving at Martinsville Speedway, Rockingham Speedway and Iowa Speedway, as NASCAR relaxed the "Kyle Busch Rule" in that series where the minimum age was reduced from 18 to 16 at ovals shorter than 2,000 meters and road courses. Jones finished second in his third career start in the series at Iowa. In October, Jones added another prestigious late model trophy to his collection, winning the Winchester 400. On November 8, 2013, Jones became the youngest driver ever to win in the history of NASCAR's top-level competition to that time, winning the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway over Ross Chastain at the age of 17 years, five months and eight days. |group=N}} In January 2014 it was announced that Jones would return to KBM in the Truck Series for 2014, competing in all age-eligible events and selected longer track events after he turned 18. On July 11, at Iowa Speedway, Jones dueled Ryan Blaney and ultimately held him off for the win. On September 27, Jones won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for his first longer track win. On November 7, Jones picked up his 4th career Truck Series win under the red flag at Phoenix, due to a power outage. On November 6, 2014, it was announced that Jones would run the full 2015 season in the Trucks for KBM, his first age-eligible season racing for a championship, as well as running an increased slate of races for JGR in the Xfinity Series. Jones picked up his first win of the 2015 season at Iowa Speedway. Jones' second win of 2015 came at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park at the end of August, after which he assumed the points lead for the first time in his career following a wreck by Tyler Reddick in the race. Jones picked up win number three on the season at Texas Motor Speedway, extending his point lead over Crafton. Jones battled with defending champion Matt Crafton and Reddick during the course of the 2015 season and beat them to win the Championship. Xfinity Series On June 19, 2014, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Jones will run three races with the team's No. 20 in the Nationwide Series after he became age-eligible. In 2015, Jones ran 25 races in the renamed Xfinity Series, splitting the No. 20 and No. 54 Toyotas for JGR. On April 10, 2015, Jones won his first Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in the No. 20. Later in the year, Jones completed a weekend sweep, winning at Iowa in the Truck Series for the first time in 2015 and at Chicagoland in the Xfinity Series in the No. 54, battling Ryan Blaney for his second career Xfinity Series win. Jones started racing full-time in the Xfinity Series for JGR in 2016, driving the No. 20. Jones won his first race of the season at Bristol in April, holding off Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch on a late restart. He also won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus by being the highest finishing Xfinity Series regular out of the four who qualified through the heat races. Jones won for the second time in 2016 at Dover in May, again winning the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus. Jones then set the fastest time in qualifying for the Hisense 4K TV 300, winning the 9th straight pole for JGR. At Iowa in July, Jones scored his third win of the season, leading the most laps and passing Ty Dillon for the lead with 15 laps to go. Jones won for the fourth time at Chicagoland in September, taking the lead with 10 laps to go. With this win, Jones entered the Chase as the number one seed. Jones advanced through the Chase to the championship round at Homestead, where he would finish 4th in points behind Daniel Suárez, Elliott Sadler, and Justin Allgaier. In 2017, as he began racing full-time in the Cup Series, Jones ran a part-time Xfinity schedule. In April, he won back-to-back races at Texas and Bristol. In June, Jones joined Fox NASCAR Cup drivers-only coverage of the Xfinity race at Pocono, working as a pit reporter alongside Ryan Blaney and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Monster Energy Cup Series .]] Jones unofficially debuted in the Sprint Cup Series during the 2015 Food City 500, when he relieved Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 due to Hamlin's neck spasms. After taking over the car, which had been in fifth, he dropped to 37th for the restart, and despite falling to the point where he was two laps down, Jones managed to finish the race in 26th. Since Hamlin started the race, he was credited with the 26th-place finish. It was then announced that he would drive the No. 18 Toyota Camry for Kyle Busch, who was recovering from a leg injury, at Kansas. In his official debut, Jones qualified 12th and ran as high as first before crashing while running fourth. Jones ended up finishing 40th, 25 laps down. Jones made his first career "triple duty" by running all three national series at the November Texas and Phoenix races. On November 4, he was announced as the driver of JGR's No. 20 car following the suspension of Matt Kenseth for his incident with Joey Logano at the Martinsville race the previous week. Jones finished 12th after blowing a tire late at Texas Motor Speedway. He drove the car again at Phoenix International Raceway to a 19th-place finish. .]] For 2016, he originally was planned to drive several races with JGR's fifth car. However, due to the charter system, which limits an owner to just four cars without any exception for rookie drivers, his Cup plans were put on hold. On August 7, it was announced that Jones had signed a deal with Furniture Row Racing to drive in their new No. 77 car sponsored by 5-hour Energy for the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. On July 11, 2017, it was announced that Jones would make the long-anticipated move to the JGR No. 20 car full-time in 2018, replacing Kenseth. This coincided with Furniture Row Racing's announcement that they would shut down the No. 77 team to focus on the No. 78 team with Martin Truex Jr., who would go on to win the 2017 MENCS Championship. On August 19, Jones dominated at Bristol, winning his first Cup Series pole and dominated early, but lost the lead late in the race to Kyle Busch, who who would go on to win while Jones finished second. Jones led 260 laps in the race after leading only 50 in his 26 prior starts in the series. On July 7, 2018, Jones captured his first career Cup Series win at the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the Daytona International Speedway after going into overtime second alongside Truex Jr. but got a big push from Chris Buescher on the final lap and held off Truex to score his first ever victory. This win secured him in the Playoffs, but was eliminated in the Round of 16 after disastrous finishes at Las Vegas and the Charlotte Roval. Personal life Jones, born May 30, 1996 in Byron, Michigan, is a graduate of Swartz Creek High School. Jones received his high school diploma at Texas Motor Speedway before the WinStar World Casino 400K Camping World Truck Series race on June 6, 2014. He currently lives in Cornelius, North Carolina. He has an older sister, Lindsey. Motorsports career results NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) Monster Energy Cup Series Daytona 500 Xfinity Series Camping World Truck Series Season still in progress Ineligible for series driver points K&N Pro Series East K&N Pro Series West ARCA Racing Series (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) References ;Notes ;Citations External links * * Category:Living people Category:1996 births Category:People from Shiawassee County, Michigan Category:Racing drivers from Michigan Category:NASCAR drivers Category:ARCA Racing Series drivers Category:ARCA Midwest Tour drivers Category:21st-century American racing drivers Category:People from Cornelius, North Carolina